Expert calls for proper handling of plants

Professor Titilayo Sangoyomi of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, has enjoined all  the stakeholders in plant production and consumers in Nigeria to handle plant production and preservation  hygienically with all sense of responsibility to guide it against mycotoxin contamination

Sangoyomi, a Professor of Plant Pathology gave the warning recntly while delivery her inaugural lecture, the 9th of its kind in the history of  Bowen  University.

According to her,  managing plant health is crucial to the continued existence of man and without which food  shortage  would be inevitable, as she  re-emphasising the need for farmers to deploy series of safest methods of plant disease control.

Professor  Sangoyomi , who based her lecture on  “ Plant Health is Human health: The Intellectual Odyssey of A Plant Pathologist, declared that  a plant can carry out  its functions effectively if it is  healthy , or  it is in its normal state. “ A plant is said to be  diseased when there is malfunctioning  of cell and tissues  as a result of continuous  irritation  of the plant by a  pathogenic agent , or environmental  factor, she noted,”.

She said: “ Pant diseases should not be  held with levity because of their tendency to damage  plants  and products on which human depends   for survival, thereby resulting in various type of slosses,”.

Professor Sangoyomi , in her lecture,  encouraged commercial production  of  Yam, Cassava and maize  Products in Nigeria for local and international markets, adding that every house  hold should support the production of these crops to rid Nigeria of food shortage, as well as  to boost farmers’ financial economy.

In her conclusion and recommendation,  Professor Sangoyomi declared that undermining  plant health  is tantamount to undermining human health and that because  our food  are mainly plant based, reason for its necessity to   ensure it is produced  and presented  safely for consumers  and other end users  in the sense that  we are what we eat.

She added that the achievement of the sustainable  Development Goals(SDGs)  would be  attainable  if plant  is considered very important. She  advised that planting, harvesting,transportation, storage as well as  processing of plant  should  be done hygienically.

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She emphasized the need for farmers to be supported   to acquire simple equipment  that would guarantee  the production of  safer produce  and reduce mouldiness and mycotoxin  contamination in the market

She said: “It is high time  government and Non-Governmental organizations , research  institutes and media network incorporated information on the danger of mycotoxin and  contamination into  public  health awareness  programme. Government should also develop strategies for monitoring agricultural produce for mycotoxin  contamination because of  the increase of its  associated disease such as kidney  and liver problems and cancers.

We must see plant health as our health and until then, human life  will continue to be in danger of hunger and poor health,”.